TURKS AND CAICOS

I wonder if there’s a patron saint of travel contests. If so, perhaps a few prayers of petition would have produced more favorable results from a bitchy contact for an auction item I inadvertently won back in November 2000. Now, I understand this technically was not a travel contest, it was an auction, but I think any self-respecting patron saint of travel contests would have taken my implorations under advisement, given the extenuating circumstances.

What happened was this: No one was bidding on a four-night stay at The Comfort Suites in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos (www.comfortsuitestci.com) at my son’s preschool auction. I thought I’d help get the bidding going, be true to your preschool and all that, and raised my hand. Wouldn’t you know it, the law of unintended consequences kicked in. After my bid, there were no takers. None.

Going once, going twice.

I really had not intended to win this one. The voucher, which did not include airfare, was good through October 31, 2001. That gave me nearly a year to get there. After I researched the Turks and Caicos, I very much wanted to go, for the water, for the light. The Comfort Suites didn’t look like any great shakes, but the hotel is right across from Grace Bay Beach, one of the Caribbean’s great stretches of sand.

The year slipped away from me. After September 11, I was beside myself with anxiety and exhaustion – the fighter jets flying over the nation’s capital night after night kept me up many a night – and forgot the voucher deadline. I happened to remember it after we’d gone trick-or-treating. Surely, I thought, there would be a grace period, given everything that was going on in the world. I called the contact person first thing the next day, All Saints Day, apologized for my forgetfulness and requested an extension for a stretch. I made clear I was flexible. He flat-out refused. He didn’t say, “Oh, I’m sorry, I’m afraid not.” He didn’t say, “You know, if you’d called me a day or two earlier, I might have been able to help you out.” He was nasty. He barked, “A deal’s a deal. The voucher expired yesterday.”

Not going once, not going twice.

I’m certain I cursed fate, along with my congenital absentmindedness, this particular All Saints Day, but pray I did not. Travelers who are so inclined can avail themselves to a coterie of patron saints. There’s a slew of travel patron saints from wing on high: Saint Christopher, the patron saint of safe travel. Saint Brigitte of Sweden, the patron saint of hospitality (and inspiration for an order of nuns that run B&B’s around the world, primarily in Europe.). Raphael the Archangel. Nicholas of Myra. Anthony of Padua. Francis Xavier is the patron Saint of Spanish tourism.

Like Phineaus, the character in A Separate Peace who prays just in case there is a God, I probably should have prayed, just in case, just in case there is a patron saint or two for travel contests, just in case their beneficence might extend to the likes of me.

** TRAVEL CONTEST **
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5 NIGHTS AT TURKS & CAICOS CLUB, PROVIDENCIALES, W/ USAIRWAYS AIRFARE

DEADLINE: July 31, 2005
TO ENTER, CLICK: www.wheretostay.com/contest
ENTRIES PER PERSON: One per person, one additional for each referral
SPONSOR: Where To Stay, an online booking agency
THE DIGS: www.turksandcaicosclub.com
THE INELIGIBLES: N/A
DATES OF TRAVEL: 7/15/2006 to 7/15/2007, subject to availability
ARV (APPROXIMATE RETAIL VALUE): $3,600
THE FINE PRINT: None of note.
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